2024 - Year in Review

 Here I go again - For all those who just want to "Cut to the Chase"

2024 in 12 Photos!

January

Continuing with the Bathroom Renovation  

that started back in October.

February

Gave us an extra day

We were knee deep in our own renovation 

and also helped a Friend with Hers

We made a Promise to Our Granddaughters.

and said Goodbye to a loved BIL

March

Everyday on my calendar had something in it

Birthdays and Funerals and Easter and

so much that I forgot to write up our Visit to The DaVinci Exhibit

(something I have since included.)

April

It was all White Gloved Hands on deck for the AQC

and visits to the Vet with Our Cat 

May

We weeded out the old Pond and made a pretty garden instead

(The birds are making good use of the Feeder turned Bird Bath)

June

I spent my Birthday checking out the other Dinosaurs at the Melbourne Zoo.

July

Taking a break from the continuing Renovation and Repairs

DD & I took the Girls to the Cake Bake & Sweets Show

August

How on Earth do I sum Up August in just one Photograph?

12 day Epic - Bucket List Tour of The Red Centre of Australia

This is the living beating Heart of Australia

and it is FAR from Dead.

September

looking back through my Diary - September was 

mainly appointments and waiting for Tradesmen.

AND

DD's 40th Birthday.

October

Pharaoh comes to the National Gallery of Victoria

It took us the best part of all day to 

see the 500 Pieces in this landmark Exhibition

(even then I missed some!)

November

Baking and Birthdays

and Maybe a New Hobby

('cause we all need yet another Hobby)

December

and of course with all its Trauma and Tinsel

December is Christmas.

* * *

Whoever you are

Wherever you live

Whatever you Believe

 

Thank you for coming by 

and sharing a snapshot of 

Who I am and What I do.

Season's Greetings

and

Happy New Year

 

Christmas Day 1974

 "Santa never made it into Darwin
Disaster struck at dawn on Christmas Day
Santa never made it into Darwin
A Big wind came and blew the town away"

* * *

In the early hours of Christmas Day 1974 Tropical Cyclone Tracy swept through Darwin.

She was small and destructive. 

With winds that exceeded 217 km per hour before the anemometer at Darwin Airport was destroyed.

This girder is part of the Tracy Exhibit in Darwin Museum.

* "Cyclone Tracy had a profound impact on the Darwin community with over 70 per cent of Darwin’s homes destroyed or suffering severe damage, all public services including communications, power, water and  sewerage were severed, 

41,000 people left homeless, 35,362 people (of the 47,000 total population of Darwin) were evacuated and tragically 66 lives were lost."

50 years on - She remains one of the most destructive Natural disasters in Australia's History.

Santa Never Made it into Darwin, written by music duo Bill and Boyd.

*Darwin.nt.gov.au/ Cyclone Tracy 50th anniversary

What Now?

What are you doing for Christmas?

Nothing Special - We've already done Family Christmas

Which leaves us plenty of time to enjoy the Christmas Markets

Dec. 6.  Food & Wine Christmas Market -MCEC (Jeff's Shed)

Dec 14.  Indoor Pop up Market - Pentridge Coburg

Dec. 15  Handmade Design Market - Coburg Town Hall

Dec. 22  Pentridge Makers Market - Outdoor Pentridge Coburg

Didn't buy much but it was a good outing and fun chatting to the stallholders.

Christmas came Early

Christmas when we were kids was easy -

You woke up unwrapped Presents, 

Had a very big Lunch

Went to Grandmas via Uncle's Place

and were back home in time for Dinner.

(photo typical of Aussie Christmas c 1965)

Then you got Married. 

In-laws did Boxing Day

You wanted Christmas Day

Your Family wanted....

Then your Kids got Married and ....

Its all very complicated!

So THIS year we decided to Have Christmas Early - Very Early.  

No one else wanted December 8th !

The Table was set 

and the Meal Prepared - 

Allowing for 6 different dietary requirements

and 4 Toddlers

The Christmas Biscuits were NOT deemed too Pretty to eat.

And as far as Little Miss P was concerned 

"If I eat it with my cutlery then it IS my Main Course"

After Lunch -

Gifts were exchanged

And the Children begged to be allowed to "Go to the Park".

Before all clearing off and leaving Us to the Washing Up...

And That is the Way it Should be.

Merry Christmas Everyone !

Getting ready for ....

I do not enjoy the Stress and Hype leading up to Christmas and

Some days are that bad you just have to Drown a Reindeer 

in Your Coffee!

DH Birthday✔

Meltdown ✔

Christmas 

Good to get some things off the list early. 

Happy Thanksgiving

 "Do you have any Thanksgiving Themed Cookie Cutters? 

They are doing a Thing at work next Week"

Lets just jump back a week when I got frustrated with not being able to find my Cake Decorating things when I needed them - So after Much Sorting, Many trips to Bunnings and a Huge Spreadsheet later and I can categorically say - No !

We don't 'Do' Thanksgiving in Australia so I was left searching the Cookie Stores for Halloween Pumpkin Cutters or anything I could use instead.

I found this Beautiful Cutter and Imprint at Sweetly Impressed (Echuca Victoria).

I also ordered a set of "Fancy Pants" Script letters from Cookie Stamp Co. (Perth W.Aust)

These were exactly what I needed and arrived in 2 Days!

So I was "Good to Go"

Cookies Baked - 

Time to turn them into something more Interesting.

I have had a little experience with Imprinting Fondant, but not with 3D Printed Cutters and Perspex Stamps!

I have however, had a LOT of experience in hand colouring Fondant & Sugarpaste (mainly flowers).

Dusting the plain coloured fondant with a darker petal dust started to bring these to life.

I was not able to source the beautiful Floral leaves and flourish that the online Sample had but, 

I was able to improvise with what I did have for the Pumpkin flowers & leaves.

DDIL#2 was delighted and happily took them to Work for their 'Thanksgiving Party'

There was just ONE problem:

They all said 

"They were Too Pretty to Eat"

and so they didn't!

Oh Good Grief.......

Cakes, Cookies & Parties

Whittlesea show:

A Bit of a difference this year with just One Demonstration each day.

 

Our President Iced and decorated a Christmas Cake while 'Yours Truly' ran the commentary!

GD#2 - Picnic Birthday

What could possibly go wrong?

An Uncle holding a Piñata at arms length while a 2 yr old swings at it with a Broomstick!

More Birthdays:

Late night Text from DS#1:  

"I hate Fondant - And my Hands Hurt!": 

For Little Miss H's 4th Birthday He Made 

A (hand coloured) striped, Fondant Covered, Stacked Black Forest Cat in the Hat Birthday Cake.  

Very ambitious for just his 4th Cake! 

Biscuit baking:

I don't know just HOW this started but I find myself delving into the realm of Sugar Cookies. 

(I am blaming it on Instagram!) 

"Freeze the Cookies before Baking" (They had better be worth it for all the fuss.)

Pharaoh at NGV

"The British Museum is delighted to present Pharaoh - Our first collaborative Exhibition with National Gallery of Victoria"

 500 Items spanning 3000 years on exhibition in Melbourne.

Having been privileged to see the Tutankhamun Exhibit at the Melbourne Museum in 2011 (and not permitted to take photographs) I was excited to attend this exhibit.

It was awesome - 

From the Grandest Statue. 

(Statue Pharaoh Ramses II as a High Priest.)

1279 - 1213 BCE

To the smallest bead, 

(This Spacer Bead - used to separate several strands of Beads). 1069 - 656 BCE

And QR Codes to See the Back of things...

(Which BTW still works - so try it!)

The Kids also had easier to understand explanations.

Eyes that gaze across the Centuries.

Mentuhotep II

c 2055 - 2004 BCE

Hoping for Immortality after death.

He lived and died 2000 years before Christ.

To have His Name and deeds not forgotten. 

Surely this is immortality.

* * *

With so many exhibits

I couldn't read all the detail plaques, so decided to buy the souvenir book.

267 pages of Photos, Maps, History and in-depth background information. It complimented the Exhibit perfectly.

September 19th

 

Celebrating a Very Happy 40th Birthday 

With Family

and Friends

and Cake

And Balloons...

And a chance to get all 4 Granddaughters stationary at the same time!

Outback Spirit

This Side Trip to Uluru (Ayers Rock) was our first with Journey Beyonds Outback Spirit Group

And I must admit when I looked at the route and how many Kms were were to travel I was a little apprehensive.  

I needn't have been.

We were looked after from the first time we climbed aboard the 24 Seat Mercedes 4WD Bus to when we said Goodbye 6 Days later.

If we were Hungry or Thirsty - It was our own fault.

Morning Tea and Lunches magically appeared from 'Beneath the Bus'.

I am sure they had more Drink options than our Hotel!

(Marshmallows for your Hot Chocolate anyone?)

There was Water and Walking-poles

Tables and Chairs 

There was Fresh Fruit and Lollies

Hand sanitizer and Sunscreen

Even Books to borrow - if you were bored.....

And first time travellers were sent a complimentary 'Explorer Pack'  with everything else you would need and some!

We were expecting maybe some pamphlets... not anything like this!

(Subsequent tours, you get Past Passenger Discounts and no pack.)

Some Facts & Figures for Fun:

1,380 km 

16 hours on the Bus

35 Stops, Photo Ops, etc

The longest time on the road was just 2 hours,

The shortest: 6 minutes

To say We Went "There and Back Again to See How Far it Is "

Is certainly an understatement.

Would we travel with them again - It's already booked!

More Fun Facts:

The Ghan:

Adelaide to Manguri 891.5 km 

Manguri to Alice Springs 666 km 

Alice Springs to Katherine 1,114 km 

Katherine to Darwin 308 km 

By Road via Stuart Hwy 3,030 km

Day 10 - Katherine

There are but a few places on this Planet where I have left part of my Soul behind

One of which, is the Beautiful Nitmiluk Gorge 

last time we were here I said I would return.

And This time I was torn between cruising the Ancient  waters of the Katherine River or going Deeper into the History of this Area.

And Deeper we did go!

From an Entire Train Full of People just DH, Myself  2 Others (and the Journey Beyond Staff Member) chose the New Katherine Excursion to the Cutta Cutta Caves.

As we have traveled the opportunity to check out a "New" Cave has become a To Do Item.

Compared to some, the section of Cutta Cutta that is open to Tours is relatively small.

Limestone caves are Uncommon in Northern Australia and Cutta Cutta is the only one open to the public. 

It is relatively easy to get to and with the exception of One 'pinch point' and a few steps, quite accessible.

Unfortunately we didn't see any of the Rare Ghost or Orange Horseshoe Bats.

We did see signs that local Snakes (Harmless Brown Tree Snake) had visited recently

I was just happy to enjoy the 'Private' Tour as it gave me the opportunity to see just how well my iPhone performed in the low light.

(Taking good Photos in Caves is notoriously difficult.)

Discovered c.1900 and named 'Smiths Cave' then '16 Mile Cave' during WW2 and finally in 1979 to Cutta Cutta the Jawoyn Name for "Many Stars".  

The Aboriginal People didn't enter the Cave as they believed it was where the Stars rested during the day.

THIS is because in places, the Cave Sparkles!

After collecting the rest of the Travellers we headed on to the Nitmiluk Visitors Centre. 

We were treated to a Shared Meal which included Kangaroo, Barramundi and Crocodile all delicately flavoured with Indigenous Salmon Gum, Citrus Myrtle, Saltbush and River Mint.

From here it was back to Katherine Station where many a traveller waited to get that Iconic Photo of the Ghan engine... only to be disappointed that the Train was being hauled, as it sometimes is,  by  Pacific National.

(This does not detract from The Ghan experience)

Our Time with Journey Beyond and Outback Spirit is drawing to an end.

Just one last beautiful Evening Meal on Board as we watch the Sun Set through dusty windows, as we roll into Darwin.

 

Ghan Photo:By Bahnfrend - Own work, 

CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41744599